First I want to say thank you to all the dedicated, hard working teachers in the state of N.J. I want to let you know that I
apologize for all those that are “teacher bashing” these days. They do not understand that this will cause lesser qualified
people going into the teaching field in the future. Who would want to be unappreciated and bashed at every turn? Who would want to work
so hard for so little pay while being bashed? The more qualified people will pursue better jobs because they can, thus leaving the
teaching profession for other lesser qualified people. This will not happen overnight of course. But once the economy comes
back, there will be choices made.

What will that do to the values of your property? Once the students start doing worse on SAT or ACT scores, folks will start
leaving the state for states with better education. Thus your property values will go down even more than they are now.

I believe that most people who bash teachers either do not understand the job of a teacher or the total compensation of a teacher
in NJ. They believe the job is easy and they don’t work as many hours as the private sector jobs. They believe or “hear”
things and think it is true. Chris Christie makes false or misleading statements and everyone believes him. Folks on forums and
message boards post misleading or false information and this inflames the public and they spread the false information even more.
Certain radio stations don’t get the full facts or at least don’t report them (for ratings), yell at folks who call them to give
them the facts, keeping the discussion one-sided, etc. Folks who have been hurting in this recession due to a job loss or no pay raise
or whatever feel resentment towards teachers who have tenure (there is good reason for tenure to be explained later), a decent
pension paid for mostly by the workers themselves and healthcare (yes, mostly paid for by the state). There are alot of facts
that don't come out during these discussions though. For example, what teachers don't get in benefits that corporate america
gets, or the down fall of their pensions. These types of things will be discussed on this website.

I will discuss many of the items above. Disclaimer: I taught for 5 years. I left the same year I received tenure for a better job
(more pay, better benefits and a less tiring job). I have worked for a very large company, a medium sized company and a very small
company. I am currently a programmer and have held positions such as project leader, Local Area network consultant, end-user support
consultant, network installer, etc. I have also started my own business while working full time. I have close family and
friends who are teachers, large corporation workers, business owners, two who have/had Wall Street careers (one lost her job due to
bankruptcy of Bear Stearns), state workers, nurses, college administrators, landscapers, house cleaners, laborer, etc.